LANTERNS Co-Creator Reveals Guy Gardner Has Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern Ring
Lanterns has officially launched on HBO, and its premiere drops a major development involving Hal Jordan that could have some interesting consequences for the larger DCU.
Now, co-creator Tom King has added another piece to the mystery by revealing that Guy Gardner ends up with Hal’s Green Lantern ring.
Warning! Spoilers for Lanterns Episode 1 follow.
The first episode reveals that Hal Jordan is murdered in 2026, setting up the central investigation that will drive the series. There’s another important detail surrounding his death, though. Hal’s Power Ring is missing.
During the official Lanterns podcast, King talked about where things stand following the premiere and specifically pointed toward the ring and its connection to John Stewart and Guy Gardner.
"At the end of this episode, Hal is dead," King says. "But also, you see John [Stewart]'s hand; he's not wearing that ring. Guy [Gardner] has the ring. So why does Guy end up with the ring, and where do we go after this, cause this moves us forward."
That gives the series another mystery beyond figuring out who killed Hal. How does Guy Gardner end up with Hal Jordan’s ring, and why does it go to him instead of John Stewart?
Nathan Fillion has already established Guy Gardner as an active Green Lantern in Superman, where he’s also a member of the Justice Gang. Guy has been operating as a superhero for some time by the events of the movie and already has history with Superman.
Superman takes place in 2025, while Hal’s murder occurs in 2026, so there’s clearly more to the history of these Green Lanterns than we currently know.
DC Comics has featured multiple human Green Lanterns operating at the same time for years. But King specifically brings up Hal’s missing ring, points out that John isn’t wearing it, and says Guy has it.
That makes the path of Hal’s Power Ring an important part of the story. It’s possible Hal loses or gives up the ring before his death. There could also be circumstances surrounding Guy’s status as a Green Lantern that haven’t been revealed yet.
Whatever happened, Lanterns appears ready to explore how Hal, John, and Guy fit together within the DCU’s Green Lantern history.
We should get some answers as the season continues because Fillion is set to reprise his role as Guy Gardner in Lanterns, complete with his wonderfully ridiculous bowl cut.
It could also make Hal’s missing Power Ring a significant piece of the murder investigation. If the ring changed hands before Hal died, finding out when and why could reveal more about what was happening in Hal’s life leading up to his death.
If it disappeared as a result of the murder, Guy’s eventual possession of it becomes even more important.
Lanterns is approaching Green Lantern mythology differently from the huge cosmic adventures normally associated with the characters. The HBO series plays as a grounded murder mystery told across multiple timelines, with the investigation at the center of the story.
Showrunner Chris Mundy, whose credits include True Detective: Night Country, previously explained that realism was "totally the goal" because they're "trying to tell a real story."
Co-creators Damon Lindelof and King have also discussed their approach to adapting decades of Green Lantern comics, explaining that they wanted to "bring out the visions" of the writers who helped build the mythology rather than simply fill the series with fan service.
Hal Jordan’s missing ring looks like it could be one of the ways Lanterns connects that mythology to the larger DCU. We already know where Guy Gardner ends up thanks to Superman. Now the series gets to show us how he got there and what happened between Hal, Guy, and John along the way.
With Hal murdered, his Power Ring missing, and Guy Gardner eventually ending up with it, there’s a much bigger Green Lantern story waiting to unfold.
Lanterns Episode 1 is streaming now on HBO Max in the US and UK, and on NOW in the UK.